Paths to power, and end of term

So, Friday was for me the end of a fantastic block week course (Paths to power) as well as the end of the term.

Paths to Power is a bad name for a very good course about power and influence in organisations. It touches on the ethics of power, the dynamics of power, the mechanisms of influence, the dangers of power. Main learnings for me: (1) Power is necessary to get things done. It is better to have it than not to have it (because otherwise someone else will take it). (2) Having power necessarily means having to make difficult choices. Being naive about it does not help. (3) Power flows from the people that are around you in an organisation. So being powerful is pretty much about being very good at managing your relationships with people. Without their support, you can not have power. The course book is very interesting, although it will make you look a bit like a looser if you read it in the tube. Patxi says a bit more about it here.



Overall the term has gone well. For me it has been largely about deciding which job I want to do after my MBA, and finding it. I have been meeting about a dozen of companies, interviewed with about seven, of which 2 (possibly 3) have developed into very interesting conversations. There have also been a couple of disappointments, with a couple of companies showing commitment and then backing off. ah well!
The process of interviewing is all in all a highly stressful experience, but I guess on the upside it forced me to really clarify what I am really after and what my strengths are. Hopefully the new year will bring some proper closure on that front. For now I am looking forward to a nice break.

Happy Christmas everyone!

why do the brits grill tomatoes?

We had Russell at LBS last night, showing us some interesting ads and trying to tell us what makes a good ad. One of my goals in organising the event was to see what happens when you bring a very good advertising person in a business school environment.
It turned out to be a bit of a clash of cultures for me, at least semantically: on the one hand we had Russell talking about 'interesting', 'negative emotions', 'cultural phenomena'. On the other hand, you had an LBS professor arguing about 'strategic alignment', 'effectiveness', 'positioning'. On the third hand ( :-) ), you had the students who pretty much wanted to see some ads and have a laugh.
I suspect all parties left slightly annoyed, and I pretty much spent all night thinking about it.



I woke up this morning and I was still thinking about it. I left home to go for an interview with a very intelligent woman at one of my favourite advertising agencies. It was more of a chat rather than an interview, as we both new that they don't have openings at the moment.
It turned out to be a very pleasant experience. We talked a bit about what an MBA is and how it might help in an advertising agency. Also we talked about how advertising is a discipline caught in between art and business (i.e. about the clash of cultures), and how exciting this is.

After leaving the building I got caught in 'severe tube delays on the circle, district, hammersmith and Godknowswhatother line'. It was pounding with rain, so I found shelter in a very British cafe and spent a good half-hour there, meditating over a lovely English breakfast. why the hell do the Brits grill tomatoes?

genius adwords

brilliant! (the whole story, in Italian, on IMLI)

Ah Paris!

Lovely weekend in Paris. Fast train, partly good weather, crap hotel, good food, fantastic churches, amazing concert, lovely andante guide for the Louvre (thanks Patxi). Will definitely do it again.

Project: The collaborative bank of ideas

I scribbled down a project idea that has been playing in my mind for a while. I am looking for comments/reactions, as well as help to bring it to life. Everyone is welcome.



Title:
the collaborative bank of ideas (or bank of eureka moments)

Situation:
My experience in advertising is that having good ideas is very
important. I suppose it's the same in many other jobs, but
particularly in those with a high creative component: advertising,
marketing, marcom, design...but perhaps even engineering, science,
architecture, academia...

Problem:
When you have to come up with ideas all the time, you tend to notice
that ideas often come at the wrong time. And by the time you get to
work on them (if you ever get there) they are gone forever.

Example 1: You are working on a new campaign for clothing. It's late
at night and all you can think about is food. And perhaps you have a
great idea for a new pasta brand but you are just too busy working on
clothing to develop it, so that by the time you get to work on pasta
you'll have forgotten your idea. Or maybe you'll simply never find the
time to work on it, and that potentially great idea will never see the
light.

Example2: you are at the pub with your mates and you come up with a
great concept. You think it deserves some work, but you have a drink
too many and by the morning you have forgotten what it was about. Idea
gone, forever.

Solution:
A website, where you can quickly type your idea, maybe by uploading a
video or photo that explains it, or perhaps by just recording a quick
voice message from wherever you are.

Ideas are tagged, so you can find them when you are working on your
next project and you need inspiration.

You can choose to keep your ideas for yourself, on your page, or to
make them public by sharing them with groups of friends or with the
whole wide world (and this is really exciting, because it can become a
big bank of ideas, with a search engine on top!)

Site initially targeted to a particular professional community (eg
advertising) in order to allocate resources, but then can be extended
to neighbouring communities.

Business model:
Initially none: its just for fun. Later perhaps advertising funded or
maybe even auction based

Team needs:
Tech development
Advocates in the industry
Anybody else who wants to help

(update: I just found that it's been done, but it's horrible IMHO http://knownetgrin.honeybee.org/idea_bank.htm)

good luck waxwave!

A few months back I had the pleasure of meeting a super clever, super nice LBS alumna, who took some of her time to share the tales of her post-LBS experience with me, and to provide advice. Today I learn her project is about to launch: www.waxwawe.com

"Waxwave is a new social venture. Our unique online fundraising product energises people to promote their favourite causes and helps charities promote themselves on the web in an entirely new way. For charities it means they get an innovative way to increase awareness and collect funds cost-effectively. For ordinary people, it means they get to have a bit of fun while telling the world what they believe in".

I guess it is still to early to understand quite how it will work, but if you look at their website you get the gist of it. Best of luck!

space station ... can you hear us?

I love chatting to parents on skype. It's a bit like base camp trying to communicate with the cosmonauts deep into space. There are always some difficulties with setting up images, microphones, sending and receiving chat messages ... but it makes you feel closer to home.

things that numbers can not capture. or not?

I am studying for one of those super-useful-mega-boring courses these days: Analysis for Marketing Planning and Decision Making (dubbed Anal Marketing). Currently focusing on measuring the effect of advertising on sales.



On the one hand it's amazing to see how much you can figure out with regression analysis, cluster analysis, conjoint, etc... On the other hand, there is a feeling that there are things that this number-crunching will never manage to capture, i.e. the infitite subtleties of how the human mind responds to persuasion. Or perhaps it can? Is advertising an art, or is it a science?

thoes of u who will not sing u must be playin with ...

... ur own dingaling. ahahaha!!!!

Persil washes whiter ... since always

Went to see the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in London yesterday. It is essentially a private collection of branded products, although a stunning one, spanning from Victorian age to today.
Interesting to see how many of today's brands were already around over 100 years ago (think Cadbury, Rimmel, ...). Also funny to see how some others haven't changed a whole lot in the past 60 years or so:


(Rolo, ww2 time. The pack hasn't changed a bit since then. Apologies for the poor picture quality)


(a 1950's Polo poster. It was already about mints and holes)


(a Persil pack from the early 50's, with a coupon! wow)